davell

You guys think Ross retires this offseason? I can't see him leaving a years worth of salary on the table.

Seems like a good dude. Excellent career. Wish he had started instead of Hammel in the playoffs.

No idea where to put this, but didn't want to start a thread on it. We're losing Derek Johnson to the Brewers, who'll become their pitching coach. Would've been nice to hold onto him for a while longer, but that's a promotion we just couldn't give him obviously.

I know it's been said by a few already.....This series sucked. It hurts now, but this has been the most fun I've had in a baseball season. If we were told before the season that we'd win a WC game on the road and beat the Cards in the NLDS before losing in the NLCS, I know I'd have been OK with that. And I figure most(if not all) would have been. So many great moments, so many great kids developing into stars. This offseason is going to be fun as hell and we'll head into next year with a team that may be considered World Series favorites. Lets fast forward to February now. I can't imagine how exciting it'll be. Love you [expletive], hell of a season.

KB will take enough walks going forward that it'll alleviate the horrible slumping somewhat. His approach is beyond rare for a rookie.

What's happening right now won't change the fact this has been the most fun I've ever had in a Cubs season. But holy [expletive], this is hard to [expletive] watch.

Good luck trading Hammel. My actual hope is we limit the innings and he's somewhat useful out of the pen. But no ones trading for his carcass.

Matz has pitched once in the past 25 days.

We've got 5 runs in 3 games, coming back from 4-0 in the 1st seems like a definite.

Granderson used up some energy needlessly stealing a base.

Good God, why is American Pie Kevin being brought in? Rookie of the Year was [expletive] awful, he's the lamest character in the American Pie movies, and he literally knows absolutely nothing about the Cubs.

This is like the greatest movie ever having enough sequels its turned into Snot vs Untrimmed Nose Hair Part 14.

This isn't our last game.

I've been in and out the past few days and haven't kept up much with these threads, but that's the second bigot reference toward Murphy I've seen. Is there a story there? Yeah, he's a homophobe

Gay pride turn!!!!!!

He got him a home run, he did

Get him to 60 this inning now

Rocky theme for introductions. I love this team.

Cliff Pennington pitching in a playoff game.....

By all means, read my previous post. It's AZPhil talking about the differences from Hendry's regime to now. I honestly didn't even think it was possible to be THAT bad.

Now that the Theo/Jed/Jason regime has been in place for a few years, I am wondering if yoi have noticed a definitive difference between development of players post-Hendry, and pre-Hendry? Are you seeing things in AZ that just were not done previously that are being stressed now? Larger number of coaches? Different drills? Better pitching direction? It is something I asked a couple years ago, but now there has been enough time settle in that I was curious how things have progressed. Thanks. Log in or register to post comments E-MAN: The Cubs Player Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 10/17/2015 - 12:22pm Permalink E-MAN: The Cubs Player Development Program has changed in various ways under the new regime. The Cubs now have a "Player Development Plan" for each minor league pitcher and player, which basically lists and explains (in detail) what each individual pitcher or player is trying to accomplish, and the pitcher's or player's development & instruction history up to that point in time. So when a minor league coach or instructor works one-on-one with a particular pitcher or player during the course of Minor League Camp, Extended Spring Training, the minor league regular season, and/or Instructs, the coach or instructor knows exactly what that player is working on, what problems the pitcher or player may be having, and what instruction the player has received from other coaches & instructors. For example, I can recall vividly pitchers & players at Fitch Park back in the day telling me that one coach would tell the pitcher or player one thing, and then a month later another coach would tell him something different, sometimes exactly the opposite. And then the kid would sometimes ask ME(?) for advice (like "What should I do?" or " Who should I listen to?"). Needless to say, a lot of players would end up either getting totally confused, or would just stop listening to everybody and try to go it alone. The lucky ones might find one particular coach or instructor who would become the player's "guru" (so to speak), and that would work (but just for that player or pitcher). Also, the philosophy of instruction varied from coach to coach. Some coaches would yell at players (sort of like a boot camp drill instructor), while others would be almost passive and wait for the player to approach the coach, and then others would just do bizarre stuff. Like I can recall a particular coach who was serving as game manager at Extended Spring Training one year, and he decided to bench players DURING A GAME (by having the player's slot in the batting order get skipped next time up) if the player got called out on strikes. This was not conducive to getting good results. (When you see a slot in the batting order being skipped in a Minor League Camp, EXST, or instructs game , it's usually because a catcher is needed to warm -up a pitcher in the bullpen, or because a player has finished his work for the day, or to get another player an additional AB, and NOT because the player got called out on strikes in his the previous AB!). In addition, the new regime has implemented a sophisticated video (and audio) operation that records everything that happens on the field during games (including Minor League Camp, Extended Spring Training, and Instructs, as well as intrasquad activity & "sim" games, too, and sometimes even BP, infield practice, PFPs, and bullpen side-sessions), and members of the organization can call-up the videos from anywhere at anytime. Minor League Field Coordinator Tim Cossins has made Instructs (I'm talking about the "basic" version, not advanced instruicts) about instruction and not about playing games against other organizations. Time that formally was spent playing games against other organizations is now spent working on drills and playing "sim" games that can be stopped in mid-inning (if necessary) for a "teaching moment." In fact, the Cubs are the only MLB club in Ariziona that does not play "basic" instructs games against other organizations. Every day is "Camp Day," full of instruction without worrying about stopping a drill so that the team can get BP in before the bus leaves for an AZIL game at another ball park. It works so well for the Cubs, I'm surprised more teams don't stop playing AZIL games and spend that time on instruction. (Again, I''m talking about "basic" instructs, not advanced instructs, which is really more of a "junior AFL"). The instruction itself has also changed, with more conventional "teaching" techniques, like what would be essentially a unique "lesson plan" for each day, and making the drills more fun for the players by finding more-interesting ways to present a particular drill and teach a particular skill. Players are allowed to fail and make mistakes or errors without being verbally abused, while at the same having the nistake or error addressed by a coach or instructor immediately (instead of waiting for the next day, as happens when players are playing games most every day against other organizations). The Cubs also make use of the auditorium at the Under Armour Performance Center after field work for what would be essentially "classroom" instruction, with use of multi-media to keep it interesting for the players (remember, a lot of these kids are teenagers!) So with a Player Development Plan for each player (where coaches, instructors, and players are now on the "same page"), a video operation that allows members of the Player Development Department (the director, managers, coaches, and instructors) to actually see (in "real" time if desired ) what each player is actualy doing ON THE FIELD, a heightened emphasis on actual field instruction over playing games against other organizations, and classtroom instruction ("mental skills") that's presented in a fun and interesting way, the Cubs Player Development Department is on the cutting edge of professional baseball instruction. While some might say that therefore the Cubs should develop more big league players, the Player Development Department can only do what it can do to help the player reach hisd potential. The player has to do his part, and the Scouting Department has to provide the players to the Player Development Department who have the talent and potential to become MLB players and pitchers.

Hey, sorry for getting snippy with you in Cubs/Cards. Now we find out true trolling versus good natured ribbing. Apologies again.

Harvey's arm being swollen.....I hope that Mets troll is happy with his wittiness. Good job, bud. You wanna come back and go for Thor now too?

Awesome to get him in. The way things are currently, tons of Cubans available, Dodgers scouting department in revamp mode.....We can do some serious damage over the next 8 months or so.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/minor-league-transactions-oct-10-16-2/ @JesseSanchezMLB: Source: Eddy Julio Martinez is officially a member of the Cubs. He signed 10 days ago. The background: https://t.co/zRC9Cq1GS3